Paper number 1053

CAST IRON: A NATURAL METAL MATRIX COMPOSITE

C.A. Cooper , R.J. Young and R. Elliott ¹

1Manchester Materials Science Centre
UMIST/University of Manchester
Grosvenor Street, Manchester, M1 7HS UK.

Summary

The deformation micromechanics of flake and spheroidal graphitic cast iron have been studied using Raman spectroscopy. It has been found that the Raman peak position shifted to a lower wavenumber upon application of a tensile strain, and to a higher wavenumber upon application of a compressive strain. The elastic properties of cast iron have been investigated using various theoretical models. It has been shown for flake graphite that the elastic modulus and level of graphite stress at 1% strain is in close agreement to the models for disk-shaped inclusions, and to the models for spherical inclusions for spheroidal iron. Raman spectroscopy can follow the immediate elastic recovery of the cast iron and can pinpoint the onset of permanent plastic deformation by comparing the position of the Raman peak before and immediately after unloading.

Keywords

micromechanics, cast iron, Raman spectroscopy, graphite.